1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices so designed as to protect a person from accidentally falling from a moving vehicle. In a more particular sense, the invention has reference to a safety bar specially designed for use by firefighting or rescue personnel, through the provision of a retractable slide at the distal end of the bar, used in association with a locking handle that automatically moves to a locking position, but which can be retracted so as to permit the slide to be disengaged from an associated socket, whereby the handle can be swung to an open position to permit the user to leave the protected area.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, there have been many safety bars devised, for the purpose of protecting vehicle occupants.
In the devices that have previously been invented for this purpose, various deficiencies have been noted, that have militated against use thereof as safety bars intended especially to be mounted in fire trucks or rescue vehicles.
In fire trucks, for example, jump seats are conventionally provided, and it is important that the occupants thereof be fully protected while the vehicle is enroute to its destination.
In such instances, the fire truck is often driven at relatively high speed, over roughly paved streets, and must negotiate sharp corners, again at relatively high speed. It is difficult in these circumstances for the occupants of the jump seat areas to keep from falling accidentally or being jostled from said areas, and accordingly, safety bars are necessary or at least very desirable, for the purpose of fully protecting these individuals.
In these special circumstances, it is extremely important that the bar meets certain requirements. For one, the bar should be designed so as to automatically lock, when it is aligned with the associated socket and the slide is released. And, as a second very important consideration, the bar should be so designed as to be incapable of being unlocked and disengaged except by positive action on the part of the firefighter. Yet another consideration is important, namely the adaptability for unlocking and disengaging the bar in an absolute minimum of time and without possibility of malfunction, thus to free the firefighter for duty without loss of even a few seconds.
The prior art devices, it is believed, have failed to meet these very important requirements. It is, accordingly, a primary object of the present invention to provide a safety bar that will be adapted to automatically lock when moved to a position in which the slide is aligned with the socket and is released; will be disengageable from the socket only by positive action on the part of the user, which action will entail the grasping of a handle and movement of the handle along a particular path essential for the purpose of retracting the slide; and that will be of trouble free design, capable of manufacture at comparatively low cost, and adapted for use over the full life of the vehicle, without any more than minimum possibility of corrosion or accumulation of dirt or other foreign materials.